Many loyalty point programs require use of a special credit card or presentation of a particular membership number at the time of a transaction in order to credit the customer with loyalty points. It thus becomes difficult for a consumer to fully realize all of the benefits of loyalty point programs. As an example, airline points often can be credited for rental car use, certain purchases and hotel stays. However, in order to obtain credit for these purchases, the user must take special steps at the time of purchase.
In other environments, a particular credit card is required to obtain loyalty points. Generally, such a program is designed to promote brand loyalty among customers. However, the requirement that a particular credit card be used may inhibit some consumers from participating in a particular loyalty program. Most corporations promoting brand loyalty programs are interested in obtaining the consumer's brand loyalty even if the consumer chooses not to use a preferred payment method. However, it is currently difficult to track and maintain a customer's loyalty points if not tied to a particular type of credit card so transactions can be readily monitored. It would be advantageous to provide a method to track online purchases without regard for the type of credit card used for providing benefits under loyalty programs.
In addition to the above, it is noted that Internet commerce is becoming a more convenient source of purchases for many consumers. In the more historically conventional “brick and mortar” world, the consumer makes a purchase at a retail location by tendering cash, check or credit card and is provided with the merchandise on the spot along with purchase documentation. This can be used to track the consumer's purchases manually if desired using any suitable mechanism. However, as consumers become more dependent on the Internet for purchases, it may become more difficult to track purchases when the consumer has multiple outstanding purchases, possibly on multiple outstanding credit cards. In addition, as the consumer visits new web sites to make purchases, he or she is often required to enter the same type of information (shipping address, credit card number, etc.) repeatedly. It would be advantageous to provide a method to simplify as well as easily track and manage online purchases without regard for the type of credit card used or web site visited.